Sunday

Following a workout, the Iowa State men's basketball team slowly started rolling in 30 minutes before the NCAA Tournament Selection Show began Sunday.

Following a workout, the Iowa State men’s basketball team slowly started rolling in 30 minutes before the NCAA Tournament Selection Show began Sunday.

They would grab a plate of barbeque in coach Fred Hoiberg’s kitchen. Some would eat upstairs. Most would wander down to the basement and cluster around one of the two TVs, trying to grab a seat while avoiding Hoiberg’s twins, Sam and Charlie, who were in the midst of an intense game of one-on-one with a rubber basketball.

The closer it got to the 5 p.m. broadcast, the more people descended down the stairs, until about 50 sets of eyes were glued to the show. The media, coaches and student-managers sat in one room. The team lounged on couches in another.

There was plenty of joking as the first team, Louisville, was placed in the tournament. Assistant coaches pranked a student-manager. The common guess for the Cyclones’ seed was a 16, the lowest in the field.

Things were loose. Everyone was enjoying themselves like it was happy hour, until Colorado State showed up as a No. 8 seed.

Former ISU coach Larry Eustachy is at Colorado State. Several in the program started muttering about facing anyone but Larry. The Cyclones were expected to likely land a No. 7-10 seed.

The tension built like in a slasher film, some leaned into the TV, waiting for the announcement like those standing in Basilica Square for the revealing of Pope Francis I.

Missouri wound up being Colorado State’s opponent. Sighs of relief filled the room.

This process is repeated again and again throughout the hour-long show. Any time there is an opponent the Cyclones could face, or a team they don’t want to because of personal connections, time stands still.

It happened again minutes later when Creighton, directed by former ISU coach Greg McDermott, was named a No. 7 seed. Before the show, coaches were trying to guess the likelihood of this matchup. No one came up with a firm answer.

Silence turned into gasps when Cincinnati became Creighton’s foe.

By the first commercial the Cyclones were already in unfamiliar territory. Their selection show experience lasted all of 10 minutes last year.

As they were forced to wait it out, some made a second food run. Players buried their heads in their phones, looking at anything to pass the time. Hoiberg huddled with assistant T.J. Otzelberger to figure out a potential opponent.

Before the show returned, Otzelberger proclaimed ISU would be a No. 8 or 9 seed.

Each time a potential 7-10 or 8-9 game came up someone channeled their inner psychic and claimed this was where the Cyclones were headed.

After two regions were laid out, ISU still didn’t have a home in the bracket.

With each team shown, Otzelberger marked off potential opponents on a sheet he brought. During the second commercial break he proclaimed ISU would face either North Carolina State or Butler.

He was asked where it will be.

“I don’t do the where,” he said.

When former Cyclone players Eric McKnight (now at Florida Gulf Coast) and Tavon Sledge (Iona) make the tournament, cheers erupted, as if some of the pent-up energy needed to be released.

The third region was shown and still, nothing for ISU. The jokes about missing the tournament and being lucky to get a 16 seed were said as a defense mechanism. No one wanted to settle for an NIT bid.

After missing out on his first two guesses, Otzelberger predicted the Cyclones will face Wichita State in an 8-9 game.

“Everyone else is gone,” Otzelberger said.

The Shockers were the No. 9 seed in the final region, but ISU wasn’t the No. 8. It was Pittsburgh. The players started glancing at each other, asking if this is really happening.

Expecting the worst is the natural state of Cyclone Nation. It’s starting to creep into the basement.

With only eight teams left to be unveiled, the Cyclones believed they must be one of them. They had to.

Hoiberg couldn’t take it. He watched the end of the selection show alone. His mind kept coming back to a bracketologist that put ISU as a 98-percent lock to make the 68-team field.

“Did he know something with that last two percent?” Hoiberg asked.

No, he didn’t.

ISU was revealed to be the No. 10 seed facing No. 7 Notre Dame on Friday in Dayton, Ohio.

Hoiberg’s nerves subsided. Assistant coach Matt Abdelmassish quickly whipped out his phone to make a call. There was a game plan to put together. The other assistants quickly moved out of the basement, a long night of film study awaiting them.

The players jumped off the couch. They hugged and exchanged high-fives, this being the reward for a year of work.

“To see it come up there is a great feeling,” guard Chris Babb said.

Hoiberg, and the more prominent players, scattered across the basement for interviews, talking up Notre Dame.

Those without TV cameras and digital recorders directed at them played an NBA video game.

There seemed to be more interest in the virtual Oklahoma City-Orlando contest than the selection show based on the hooting and hollering after each basket.

Once the interviews concluded, 90 minutes after most arrived, the basement began thinning out. When everyone left they walked past a sign that read: The time to be happy is now.

That was certainly the case for the Cyclones.

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